It is well-known that the highly stretchable latex surgeon's gloves are very difficult to don without a lubricating powder, such as cornstarch, etc. The use of such donning powder, while necessary in the commerical surgeon's gloves, is not desirable because it requires the surgeon to remove any excess powder after donning. If he does not do this, some of the lubricating powder can enter a surgical wound. Some reports believe that such powder could cause a granuloma in some instances.
Attempts to eliminate the donning powder have not been successful because the surgeons simply could not get the glove on. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,845,031 and 3,992,221 describe a treatment for synthetic and natural rubber materials which include halogenating their surfaces. The former patent deals with providing a better "glueable" surface to rubber. The latter patent is attempting to provide a donable glove that does not require a lubricating powder. This proposal involves treating the glove with fluorine gas. Such fluorine treatment has a disadvantage of substantially weakening the rubber glove structure so that it cracks and breaks during stretching. This could be the reason why such glove has never been marketed.